An uncrewed vessel dubbed "Mayflower" recently completed the first fully autonomous transatlantic journey on the open sea. Powered by IBM's AI, the ship was designed and built by non-profit maritime research organization Promare. Its purpose is to boldly go where no robot has gone before, and collect oodles of data from our oceans. We're probably not going to see Big Blue selling robo-yachts anytime soon. Instead, IBM's involvement is more about showcasing the robust nature of its machine learning tools.

A robotic recreation of the 17th century Mayflower ship has finally completed a 3,500 journey across the Atlantic Ocean, in 40 days. Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) – a 50-foot-long autonomous research vessel piloted by artificial intelligence (AI) – arrived in Halifax, Canada on Sunday (June 5). MAS, which carried no humans on board and relied on artificial intelligence, had set sail from Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, England in the early hours of April 27. The ship was smooth sailing until the second week of May when a generator issue diverted it to Portugal's Azores islands so a team member could fly in to do repairs. During the latter stages of the journey the decision was made to head to Halifax – as opposed to Virginia as previously planned – due to more mechanical issues.

The voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 brought early settlers to the future United States. A modern-day Mayflower brought no human beings at all. The robot ship designed by IBM used artificial intelligence to pilot itself. Nobody was in the crew as the ship crossed the Atlantic. Mechanical trouble forced a safe docking in Halifax, Canada, which leaves only one question - if the ship ever sank, would the computer make it to a lifeboat?

A groundbreaking AI-powered ship designed by IBM has successfully crossed the Atlantic, albeit not quite as planned. The Mayflower – named after the ship which carried Pilgrims from Plymouth, UK to Massachusetts, US in 1620 – is a 50-foot crewless vessel that relies on AI and edge computing to navigate the often harsh and unpredictable oceans. IBM's Mayflower has been attempting to autonomously complete the voyage that its predecessor did over 400 years ago but has been beset by various problems. The initial launch was planned for June 2021 but a number of technical glitches forced the vessel to return to Plymouth. Back in April 2022, the Mayflower set off again.

The Associated Press reports on "a crewless robotic boat that had tried to retrace the 1620 sea voyage of the Mayflower" from the U.K. to Massachusetts' Plymouth Rock. And after five weeks it finally did reach North America. "The technology that makes up the autonomous system worked perfectly, flawlessly," an IBM computing executive involved in the project told the Associated Press. But "Mechanically, we did run into problems." It's especially disappointing because they'd tried the same voyage last year.

IBM's self-sailing Mayflower ship, tasked with making it across the Atlantic without any humans onboard to help, has suffered another mechanical glitch preventing it from continuing its intended journey. Named after the vessel that brought passengers from England to America in the 17th century, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) was expected to retrace that historical voyage. But its attempts to cross the ocean, led by ProMare – a non-profit organization focused on marine research, with support from IBM – haven't exactly gone smoothly. We admire the tenacity and the project's aims but we're not going to pretend this has been perfect. The first attempt last year ended in failure.

A robotic recreation of the 17th century Mayflower ship has set sail for US shores once more after a failed first attempt last year. Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) – a 50-foot-long autonomous research vessel piloted by artificial intelligence (AI) – departed from Plymouth, England on Wednesday (April 27). If all goes to plan, the £1 million ($1.3 million) ship will reach Virginia in about three weeks, and in the process become the largest autonomous vessel to ever cross the Atlantic. With no humans on board the ship, it relies on AI to make decisions and look out for potential obstacles in the water. MAS was built to recreate the original Mayflower's historic journey from England to the New World more than 400 years ago.

Marine research organization ProMare has performed repairs and improvements on the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) that was forced to stop its transatlantic voyage due to "a small mechanical problem." The IBM-sponsored autonomous vessel Mayflower started its journey on 15 June 2021 from Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, UK. Three days after the initial launching, the unmanned vessel had to interrupt its voyage due to a mechanical issue and sail back to England. Once back in the base, ProMare determined that the issue was caused by a fracture in the flexible metal coupling between the ship's generator and exhaust system. MAS400 uses solar panels to draw as much energy as possible from the sun.

The Mayflower had a few false starts before its trailblazing sea voyage to America more than 400 years ago. Now, its artificial intelligence-powered namesake is having some glitches of its own. A sleek robotic trimaran retracing the 1620 journey of the famous English vessel had to turn back Friday to fix a mechanical problem. Nonprofit marine research organization ProMare, which worked with IBM to build the autonomous ship, said it made the decision to return to base "to investigate and fix a minor mechanical issue" but hopes to be back on the trans-Atlantic journey as soon as possible. With no humans on board the ship, there's no one to make repairs while it's at sea.

IBM's fully-autonomous edge AI-powered ship Mayflower has set off on its crewless voyage from Plymouth, UK to Plymouth, USA. The ship is named after the Mayflower vessel which transported pilgrim settlers from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. On its 400th anniversary, it was decided that a Mayflower for the 21st century should be built. Mayflower 2.0 is a truly modern vessel packed with the latest technological advancements. Onboard edge AI computing enables the ship to carry out scientific research while navigating the harsh environment of the ocean--often without any connectivity.